Renewable Electricity

Renewable electricity is the electricity which is produced from the natural sources such as, water energy, wind energy, solar energy etc.Today wind power is growing at a faster rate more than 158 gigawatts of electricity are produced using this energy.Wind power is increasingly used in United States, Asia and Europe. About 15 percent of the global electricity is produced from hydropower or hydroelectricity and three percent from new renewable energy.  

There are indeed many sources of renewable electricity. As they are more widely recognized, and as some of the technologies listed here become increasingly competitive, concern with future electricity supplies will diminish.

As to quantities: hydroelectricity sources already provide 14 to 15 percent of U.S. electricity. More new capacity comes into service each year. Geothermal capacity is approaching 1,500 megawatts, and wind electric capacity exceeds 1,100 megawatts. Both are concentrated in several parts of the world. Wind-power development is also several countries around the world. Cumulated production of photovoltaic capacity is small—some 100 megawatts. The significance of this source is its rapid growth and poten­tial for large-scale use.

This summary of renewable electricity technologies underlines the potential abundance of electricity in a renewable energy future. All of the technologies listed are commercialized. All are cost-competitive, except wind-electric, photovoltaic electricity and solar-thermal.

At present, electricity generation from non-hydro renewables is fairly limited in most IEA countries: renewable energies generated 2.0% of the IEAs total electricity in 1996. Apart from Luxembourg, Finland has more renewable electricity than any other IEA country, 9.6% of its total electricity production. The penetration of renewable electricity is likely to remain limited in the medium term in many IEA countries, as it is constrained by factors other than its incremental cost and (in some cases) limited resource availability.

Questionnaire:

• Explain about the renewable electricity.